MARATHON MAN: No. 4 seed David Ferrer celebrates after defeating Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in five sets yesterday in the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Photo: Anthony J. Causi

David Ferrer has never won a major, but then again neither has anyone else not named Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer or Juan Martin del Potro since 2005. After a thrilling five-set victory over Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), yesterday afternoon in 4 hours and 31 minutes, Ferrer will have to go through Djokovic in the U.S. Open semifinals for a shot at his first Grand Slam.

“Now I am in the semifinals,” the fourth-seeded Ferrer said. “Of course my next opponents are amazing players. Del Potro or Djokovic, so I will try to play my best tennis to beat them.”

Ferrer has been to the U.S. Open semifinals once before, losing to Djokovic in straight sets in 2007.

Finally cracking the top four due to Nadal withdrawing before the tournament began with a knee injury, the 30-year old Ferrer has been as consistent as anyone on tour, having now made the quarterfinals of every major this year. He has won five titles, already more than any other year in his 13-year career.

Both Ferrer and the eighth-seeded Tipsarevic had their share of arguments in a testy match, including on the second-to-last point of the match when Ferrer yelled at the chair umpire before realizing he had been awarded the point.

“Now I feel tired,” Ferrer said. “The match was very emotional. My opponent deserved to win this match also. He is playing really good and having a really good season.”

After the two traded the first four sets including a second set tiebreak won by Tipsarevic, the drama unfolded in the fifth. Tipsarevic was in control up 4-1 before the wheels fell off. Ferrer held serve to make it 4-2 as Tipsarevic took a hard fall on the court and took several moments to get up. He shook it off, but was clearly affected by it as Ferrer took eight of the next 10 points to level the match at 4-4. Tipsarevic then called for the trainer, got his right leg wrapped up and held serve before falling in the tiebreaker, 7-4.

“The fall on 4-1 was just a fall,” Tipsarevic said. “I’m feeling pain on my left hip now. My legs are definitely feeling pain right now. Even though it’s really painful, I don’t want to blame that on the loss today.”

It was only fitting that one of the best and longest matches of this tournament went five sets. Tipsarevic was upset with the loss, but said he could use it as motivation.

“Even though it’s painful to watch, I look at it as homework,” Tipsarevic said. “This is one of the things which made me a better player in the last couple of years, just watching videos of my matches when I play good and when I play horrible.”